Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Garmin Gummed Up? Ask the FCC!

Well, some people are just more special than others, folks.

...Genachowski brokered a deal with a company called LightSquared to offer new wireless internet service. Venture capitalist corporatist Philip Falcone is a major investor in LightSquared, and he’s also a big donor to Democrats. LightSquared needed a waiver from the FCC because it wants to operate its network using ground frequencies rather than a satellite link. The FCC stealthily granted the waiver after a comment period that occurred over the Thanksgiving holiday. The problem, LightSquared’s networks interfere with GPS!

Garmin loses reliability when within 3.6 miles of a LightSquared transmitter; aircraft GPS systems go wonky within 5.6 miles.

DoD is concerned, too.

HT: Lonely

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